Process of improving the color and quality of leaf-tobacco



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GOLDSBOROUGH ROBINSON, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUGKY.

PROCESS OF IMPROVING THE COLOR AND QUALITY OF LEAFTOBACCO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 225,422, dated. March 9, 1880.

Application filed December 31, 1879. v

To all whom it may] concern:

Be it known that I, GOLDSBOROUGH ROBIN- soN, of the city of Louisville, State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Process of Improving the Color and Quality of Leaf- Tobacco, of which the following is a specification.

In the inanufactureof tobacco, leaf of a light brightcoloris most highly prized. The proportion of bright tobacco produced being limited, the demand for it makes bright colory tobaccos greatly more valuable than the other sorts.

My invention consists of a process whereby I take the ordinary leaf and give it the light bright color so much sought after without detriment to the quality of the leaf, but really improving it by leaving it with a milder and more pleasant flavor by reason of the extraction of the bitter principle.

The process is as follows: The tobacco to be treated is dipped in dilute alcohol heated to or above the boiling-point of spirits, and is allowed to remain a sufficient time to bring it under theinfluence of the alcohol. My expe' rience leads me to prefer-a time of from three to eight minutes and a strength of dilute alcohol ofaboutsixty degrees(60) Baum. The leaf is then removed from the alcohol and exposed to the influence of a draft of air to produce an evaporation of the moisture contained in it. My preference is to use, first, a cold draft until wet, but presents the ap- 1 the leaf is no longer pearance and feels like a rag which has been dipped in water and then wrung out, and then to use a draft of air heated to about 190 Fahrenheitv until the leaf is thoroughly dry. Very good results can, however, be obtained with great variations in the use of heat and air.

With respect to the distinctive features and merits of my invention, I would state that I am aware that various attempts have been made, at great expense, to bleach or lighten the color of tobacco but the activity of the bleaching agents heretofore used (which were either in the nature of alkalies or acids) Was such that, while they accomplished the desired change in color, they left the fiber of the tobacco in an utterly worthless condition. By my process it will be seen that the desired effect is obtained without any detriment to the leaf.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'- The process of treating leaf-tobacco for improving its color and quality, which consists in immersing the tobacco in alcohol and then drying the same, substantially as described.

The above specification of my invention signed by me this 26th day of December, A. D, 1879.

GOLDSBOROUGH ROBINSON.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR L. ROBINSON, JAMES A. BEATTIE. 

